On March 5, 2014, the Federal Reserve Board (the “FRB”), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the “OCC”) issued final supervisory guidance implementing the provisions of section 165(i) (2) of...

On March 11, 2014, the New York Department of Financial Services (“NYDFS”) issued a public order (“Order”) announcing that the NYDFS will consider formal proposals and applications for the establishment of regulated virtual currency exchanges operating in New York. It is...

Alarm bells sounded last week when the American Bankers Association and others concluded that collateralized debt obligations backed by trust preferred securities may be ¿covered funds¿ under the final Volcker Rule. A small clarification from the federal banking agencies and closer analysis of a...

On November 26, 2013, NASDAQ amended its independence standards for compensation committee members to remove the outright prohibition on compensatory fees. As revised, a board of directors instead must consider the receipt of such fees when determining eligibility for compensation committee...

On Wednesday, October 23, the SEC, at long last, formally proposed rules which would allow companies to offer and sell securities through crowdfunding, as contemplated by the JOBS Act. Crowdfunding is an innovative way for small companies and entrepreneurs to solicit investments from a multitude...

On July 8, 2013, the Federal Reserve Board (the Board) approved revisions to its capital adequacy guidelines and prompt corrective action rules that implement the revised standards of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, commonly called Basel III, and address relevant provisions of the...

On March 4, 2013, Nasdaq issued a proposed new rule that, if approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), will require listed companies to establish and maintain an internal audit function. The proposed rule is open for public comment until 21 days after publication in...

Last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) Enforcement Division filed two unrelated civil complaints - one against two KPMG accountants and the other against bank executives - relating to misconduct that arose from the financial crisis. The KPMG auditors were...

On October 13, the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Corporation Finance issued written guidance regarding disclosure obligations relating to cybersecurity risks and cyber incidents (i.e., actual incidents of data breaches or other cyber attacks). The guidance is not a rule or...